blah blah beans

The recipe I'm about to tell you about is something that I made last Tuesday.  And then I tried to write about it the following Tuesday, but I just couldn't seem to muster up enough enthusiasm.  It took 9 days after eating and 2 days after trying to write about it that I realized the reason I couldn't muster up any enthusiasm was because it was just a so-so dish.  Nothing special or spectacular, just one of those dishes that if you had the staples on hand you wouldn't mind eating it - but nothing that I'll plan again.

So rewind back to almost 2 weeks ago.  Before going to the grocery store, I looked through the "Meatless Mains" chapter of my Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast Weeknight Meals cookbook and picked out 3 simple but yummy sounding recipes that required me to buy only about half the ingredients since I had the rest on hand. It all started out so well.

Presenting Southwestern Red Beans and Rice
I thought this would be good for a few reasons: the total prep and cook time was 13 minutes, it looked hearty and filling, and it sounded yummy.  Here's the recipe:

Prep: 4 minutes
Cook: 9 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup rice mixture and 1 tortilla)

Cooking spray
1 (8 ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1 (8.8 ounce) package precooked whole-grain brown rice (such as Uncle Ben's Ready Rice)
1 (16 ounce) can light red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatos with zesty mild chiles, undrained (such as Del Monte)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 flour tortillas
1/2 cup (2 ounces) reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1.  Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; coat pan with cooking spray.  Add mushrooms to pan; cook 6 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally.  Stir in rice and next 4 ingredients.  Cover and bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

2.  While rice mixture cooks, warm tortillas according to package directions.  Sprinkle rice mixture with cheese and cilantro.  Serve immediately with tortillas. 

Nutrition info: calories 319g, fat 7g (sat 2.7g, mono 2.4g, poly 1.5g), protein 14.2g, carb 52.1g, fiber 8.4g, chol 11mg, iron 2.6 mg, sodium 794 mg, calc 144 mg

Doesn't that look appetizing?  No?  You're right.  It looks like regurgitated food.  Oh well.  All in all, it wasn't that bad... but as my mom always says, saying "it's not that bad" instead of "it's pretty good" says more than the words itself.

Note:

- it could have used more spice for sure.  The green chiles definitely help, but so did the cheese and sour cream.

 - the whole "pre-cooked rice in a pan" thing was weird to me and my cook time definitely took longer than stated because a) I'm still not used to these gas burners and b) I don't have a lid for the pan I was using, so I just put a plate on top instead.  It works, but it doesn't exactly create the seal you probably want and need.

- after making it I thought "hey this could be pretty tasty as burrito filling!"  Well, I think it was actually tastier on it's own.  How is that possible?  I have no idea.

- random nutrition info: did you know that rinsing and draining canned beans can reduce the sodium by 40 percent.  I never used to do this because I was lazy and didn't see the point, but I definitely will from now on.

So to sum it up: I probably won't be making this again, unless of course I happen to have rice, light red kidney beans, and diced tomatoes with zesty green chiles on hand.  Oh well.

PS: in an odd way, it feels good to write a not-so-glowing review of a CL recipe.  It's strangely exciting.  Plus now you can 100% certain that I don't secretly work for Cooking Light.  Glad that's out in the open.